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Pokémon (anime)
Pokémon (abbreviated from in Japan) is an ongoing Japanese animated series, which has since been adapted for the North American and European television market. It is somewhat based on the Pokémon video game series and a part of the Pokémon franchise. Originally a single series, Pokémon, it has since been made into three series, including Pokémon: Advanced Generation and subsequently Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, which continue the story of Pokémon, while its spin-off Pokémon Chronicles or, as it is known in Japan, Pokémon Sunday (formerly Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku) is a series of stories revolving around some of the recurring characters. Airing and production The English adaptation of the series was produced by 4Kids Entertainment and video distribution of the series was handled by Viz Media for the TV series for the younger generation as well as the eighth movie through the tenth, Screen Gems and Nintendo for the first three movies and the first special, Miramax Films and Buena Vista Home Entertainment for the fourth movie through the seventh, and Carolco Pictures from the eleventh movie onward. Carolco has since picked up distribution rights to the first three movies from Screen Gems and the TV series from Viz Media starting April 1, 2009, and Lionsgate picked up distribution rights to the first special and co-distributed the eighth movie through the tenth in association with Viz and C2 Pictures (as well as Universal Pictures for the ninth and tenth movies). Universal will also co-distribute the films starting with the eleventh movie in association with Carolco and The Halcyon Company and will distribute the DVD release, while Carolco will distribute the BluRay. The series and all feature films are directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, with English adaptations originally written by Norman J. Grossfeld and Michael Haigney for the first eight seasons. However, starting with the ninth season, the American branch of The Pokémon Company, Pokémon USA, and TAJ Productions, who worked with 4Kids on the show before taking leave after Season 5, replaced 4Kids as the show's non-Japanese producers and distributors. Most of the original voice cast was also replaced, causing controversy among fans who admired the original voice actors. TAJ was replaced by DuArt Film and Video for the tenth movie and Season 11 of the anime series. In the UK, Pokémon first aired on the Saturday morning show SMTV Live and proved to be extraordinarily popular, to the point were segments and sketches of the show itself were based around Pokémon (e.g. the Pokérap). Other English dubs were produced by Frontier Enterprises (which managed to complete the first season and movie), Manga Entertainment Ltd. (which outsources its dub to Optimum Productions in Canada and has dubbed eight seasons and movies thus far), and STUDIOPOLIS (which is in the process of producing a new uncut English dub). The show (as of November 8, 2007 in Japan and April 12, 2008 in the United States) started its second season of Diamond And Pearl, subtitled "Pokemon:Diamond And Pearl Battle Dimension" in the English dub. An English version of Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku has now been made, titled Pokémon Chronicles which premiered in the UK on Toonami on May 11, 2005 at 4:30 p.m. ET, and is currently airing the 10th season on YTV in Canada. Each season also brings forth a Pokémon feature-length film, and each film up until the seventh is preceded by a Pokémon animated short. ''Pokémon'' CD's have been released in conjunction with the anime. The tracks feature songs that have been shown in the English dubbed version of the anime. However, some CDs have been released to promote and profit the anime. In Japan, both series are shown on TV Tokyo, with Diamond and Pearl airing on Thursday nights (previously Monday) and Pokémon Sunday on Sunday mornings. In the United States, Advanced Generation could previously be seen on the air on the now-defunct Kids' WB! cartoon block on Saturdays, but in April 2006, Kids WB, which continued on the CW Network until 2008, announced the fall schedule and Pokémon was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the WB-created series Legion of Super-Heroes. The rights for Battle Frontier were picked up by TimeWarner's corporate sibling Cartoon Network instead,"Pokémon: Battle Frontier" Coming to Cartoon Network This Fall, Toon Zone. URL last accessed March 4, 2007.Mailbag: A Very Special Episode!, Pokémon.com. URL last accessed March 4, 2007. and aired on CN starting September 9, 2006 at 9 a.m. US ET/PT, with a special prime-time episode having been aired the night before (September 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, following the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon special. The fourth season of the Advanced Generation series, titled Battle Frontier has been airing in the United Kingdom from February 5, 2007, the show also airs in Canada. In addition, the series is also seen as such on the International Satellite Network. Cartoon Network's India service, along with their Toonami UK service, also carries Pokémon episodes. As of October 9, 2006, Cartoon Network's online service, Toonami Jetstream, featured Pokémon episodes starting at the Orange League episode "The Pokémon Water War". The newest series of Pokémon began airing in Japan on September 28, 2006 with a three-episode arc introducing the new series' main female character Dawn (known as Hikari in Japan), based on the playable female player in the games. The new series aired with a sneak preview on April 20, 2007 in the USA. The sneak preview aired on May 5 in Canada. A dubbed version of the 90-minute preview done in Japan, takes place in the Sinnoh region, based on the new Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games. The new series aired in prime time on Cartoon Network starting June 4 at 7:30 PM ET/PT as part of the Cartoon Network Summer 2007 programming promotion. Currently, it airs on Saturday mornings with newer episodes airing at 9:30 AM ET/PT. The summer run was confirmed in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD released on April 2 of 2007. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl has also been airing on YTV in Canada since September 8, 2007. May will appear in the 76th episode for Wallace's contest. Max and Misty's statuses are still unknown (Though the latter's Seiyuu did hint at one point in her blog that Misty might be appearing in D/P). Dawn is taking their place, while a new rival for Ash, Paul, is also featured along with new villains such as the Pokémon Hunter J and Team Galactic. In the UK the Kanto region episodes aired randomly on different channels, and most fans saw the Johto and Hoenn regions on Sky1 every weekend. Battle Frontier aired on Cartoon Network, and currently Pokemon Diamond and Pearl is airing in the UK following Battle Frontier. The CITV channel and ITV4 are currently repeating episodes of Diamond and Pearl everyday apart of Action Stations!. Battle Dimension has been confirmed in the UK, and has been airing on Jetix since September 6, 2008. This will be the new home for Pokemon in the UK. The Pokémon series The first series tells the story of Ash Ketchum (known as Satoshi in the Japanese version, he is named after Pokémon's creator, Satoshi Tajiri) and his quest to become a Pokémon Master. However, unlike in the video games, he is given a Pikachu as his first Pokémon under unusual circumstances. Much of the series focuses on the friendship between Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Brock, May, Max, Tracey, Dawn and the various Pokémon and Trainers along the way. Joining Ash on his adventures are Brock (known as Takeshi in Japan) who wants to become the world's best Pokemon breeder and Misty (Kasumi in Japan) who wants to be a water Pokemon trainer (Brock and Misty were gym leaders in the original pokemon game, and were in the anime too but were able to travel with Ash due to different circumstances). The other two series continue to follow the adventures of Ash and his friends. However, starting with the Advanced Generation series a new main character named May (Haruka in Japan) travels with Ash, Brock and also her little brother Max (Masato in Japan) through the Hoenn region replacing Misty, and competes in Pokémon Contests, which are set up in a similar manner to Pokémon Gyms (many throughout the region, and ending with a large tournament), although immensely different. Throughout the run of the show the subject matter changes. In the original series, the show is more comical and whimsical (light and airy). It uses "goofy" humor (or "cute" humor when it comes to Pikachu, who does wacky things in between important scenes). In the Advanced Generation series as Ash becomes more of a mature and leader-type character, the main course of the show becomes more serious, as it deals with love and death, and its previous comical nature (for the most part) changes into comic relief, attributed mostly to Team Rocket and Brock's love of girls, though the Diamond and Pearl series seems to have returned to using the original comical nature (mostly Ash being the straight man to his Pokémon's antics and Dawn taking the role of the naive beginner). Series Names Like many anime metaseries, Pokémon:The Original Series!, Pokémon: Advanced Generation Series And Pokémon: Diamond And Pearl Series episodes are split up into smaller series for the English release, usually to denote the areas and adventures going on. Because of this, series are identified by the opening animation used for the episode, rather than a run of a fixed number of episodes. In certain places, the different series are considered different shows altogether, although they involve the same storylines and characters. To date there are 11 total series completed, ten of such have aired in the United States. One is currently being aired. Pokémon Chronicles Pokémon Chronicles, known in Japan as Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku ( "Weekly Pokémon broadcast"), is a closely related spin-off series that airs concurrently with the beginning part of Pokémon: Advanced Generation. The main episodes are stories that star various recurring characters that appeared in Pokémon, some of which account for discontinuities of the plot of Pokémon: Advanced Generation. However, instead of new episodes each week, as is the case with Pokémon: Advanced Generation, other things may air during Pokémon Chronicles, such as reruns of Pokémon episodes, television airings of the Pokémon movies, cast interviews, and live action footage. Pokémon Sunday Pokémon Sunday (Japanese: ポケモン☆サンデー) debuted on TV Tokyo on October 3, 2004. The show is the successor to the Pocket Monsters Encore and the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station. Like the shows before it, Pokémon Sunday is a sort of variety show featuring reruns of old episodes as well as a number of 'Research' episodes involving live-action elements. Anime films During each season of the main series, a , starring the main characters from the TV series has been released. As of 2008, there have been ten movies and one feature length TV broadcast (released outside Japan as a direct-to-video movie titled "Mewtwo Returns"), the twelfth is scheduled to be released in July 2009 in Japan. The plot of every movie has involved an encounter with a Legendary Pokémon, although some may not conform to a strict definition of the word. The movies are also used to promote brand new Pokémon that are supposed to be in new versions of the game. The Pokémon movies are also coupled with a short movie starring Ash and Co. pokémon. Each movie until the seventh is preceded by the animated shorts. The shorts are: ''Pikachu's Summer Vacation, Pikachu's Rescue Adventure, Pikachu and Pichu, Pikachu's Pikaboo, Camp Pikachu, and Gotta Dance. Live-action film Main article: Pocket Monsters A live-action motion picture was produced by Hollywood Pictures, C2 Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment for release in 2007. The film stars Alexander Gould, Matthew Broderick, and Evan Rachel Wood as Satoshi, Takeshi, and Kasumi, respectively, and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It has been rated PG for sci-fi action violence and rude humor, and for some language. Pokémon specials Once in a while there would be other animated material that does not fit in with the main series or the movies. The Birth of Mewtwo/The Origin of Mewtwo An animated adaptation of the "Birth of Mewtwo" radio drama, which was later attached to the beginning of the first movie for the Japanese video release. A small 3 minute heavily edited version was released on the US version DVDs, while the full uncut version was made available on the Mewtwo Returns DVD Slowking's Day A short featuring Slowking. It was never released outside of Japan, most likely due to it only being a few minutes long. Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns A made for television special that followed up on Mewtwo after the events of the first movie. Raikou: Legend of Thunder A made for television special that showcased the legendary Raikou, as well as brand new trainers. It became the first three episodes of Pokémon Chronicles. This was based on the release of Pokémon Crystal and is called as such in the Japanese title. Pikachu's Winter Vacation A series of winter theme Pikachu-centered shorts that went directly to video. The first two were part of the Pokémon Chronicles series. This was the only Pokémon DVD not released by Viz Video but rather 4Kids' normal way of releasing DVDs, being released by 4Kids and FUNimation. Pikachu's Summer Festival A short that premiered on ANA flights. Pikachu's Ghost Carnival The second short premiered on ANA flights. Pikachu's Mischievous Island (a/k/a "Pikachu's Island Adventure") The third short premiered on ANA flights, and was released in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD in the USA. Pokémon 3D Adventure: Find Mew! A Pokémon 3D short that was shown as the PokéPark in Japan in 2005. Pokémon 3D Adventure: Pikachu's Big Undersea Adventure The second Pokémon 3D short, shown when PokéPark was in Taiwan in 2006. The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon An hour-long TV special commemorating the tenth-anniversary of Pokémon in the United States. It features a variety of Pokémon as artificial and stronger "mirages", including a supposedly "most powerful" Pokémon creation. Pokémon shown to be mirages were Mew, Kabutops, Omastar, Armaldo, Aggron, Aerodactyl, Houndoom, Absol, Mightyena, Machoke, Machamp, Ursaring, Magnemite, Entei, Articuno, Zapdos, and Mewtwo. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate! A special anime based on the new video games which was shown on Cartoon Network in the USA September 8, 2006. The main characters in this special are a boy who was turned into a Squirtle, who formed a team with a naturally born Charmander and Chikorita. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Time and Darkness Exposition A sequel to the anime special based on the new video games prior to the Japanese release. The English version was shown on Action Stations! in the UK on July 18, 2008. The USA airing was on September 1, 2008 (Labor Day in the U.S.) on Cartoon Network. Characters English names are given before the Japanese names in Western order (given name before surname), when possible. All Japanese names, unless otherwise noted, are romanized from katakana. For the sake of simplicity, English language names will be used in this and other articles in Wikipedia about Pokémon, unless explicitly referring to the Japanese version. Current Main characters Former Main characters Villains Team Rocket Team Rocket (Roketto-Dan) is an evil organization led by Giovanni. They have operations in Kanto and Johto. However, they have not set up permanent operations in Hoenn and Sinnoh, meaning Jessie, James and Meowth are the only operatives there. Team Magma Team Magma (Maguma-Dan) is an evil organization recurring within the Pokémon: Advance generation series, led by the evil Maxie. Seemingly the goal of Team Magma is to release the beast of the earth, Groudon onto the world, creating new lands and eliminating water as it did millions of years ago. The Pokémon they used were fire-type, usually Houndoom and Mightyena, even some Golbat. The goals and ambitions are the same as their counteracting rivals Team Aqua, however the two teams despise each other. The two teams have been reported to be no more. Team Aqua Team Aqua (Akua-Dan) is an evil organization recurring within the Pokémon: Advance generation series, led by the evil Archie. Seemingly the goal of Team Aqua is to release the beast of the sea, Kyogre onto the world, flooding it with ocean as it did millions of years ago. The Pokémon they used were water-type, usually Crawdaunt and Walrein. The goals and ambitions are the same as their counteracting rivals Team Magma, however the two teams despise each other. The two teams have been reported to be no more. Team Galactic Team Galactic (Ginga-Dan) is an evil organization recurring within the Diamond & Pearl series; their plot is to rule the galaxy and capture the legendary Pokémon in Sinnoh. Other Recurring characters Voice cast Main article: List of Pokémon voice actors Censorship Main article: Pokémon episodes removed from rotation Pokémon has had several anime episodes removed from the rotation in Japan, the Western World, or the entire world. However, on September 1, 2006, China has permanently banned the series to protect China's struggling animation studios China Bans 'Simpsons' From Prime-Time TV. The most infamous of these episodes was "Dennou Senshi Porigon" (translates into "Electric Soldier Porygon"). The episode made headlines worldwide when it caused 685 children to experience seizures and seizure-like symptoms caused by a repetitive flash of light. Although the offending sequence was caused by Pikachu's actions, the episode's featured Pokémon, Porygon, has never been seen again in the anime except for one brief cameo appearance in the movie, Pokémon Heroes. Porygon2 and PorygonZ have never been seen. All the companies that dubbed the series dubbed this episode as well; the only company that's yet to release the episode is Pokémon USA, and all airings have been slapped with a TV-MA rating as a safety precaution along with a warning reading: "THE FOLLOWING EPISODE CONTAINS NO STRONG PROFANITY, SEXUAL CONTENT, OR VIOLENCE; HOWEVER, THERE ARE A FEW IMAGES THAT CAN CAUSE SEIZURES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED." The TV-MA rating was carried on to all Betamax and VHS tapes, DVDs, and BluRays that carried the episode. DVD Releases The following list shows all the releases of Pokémon anime (4Kids/Pokemon USA). In Region 1, the seasons are released on volumes, just Season 2 has been released in a complete boxset. A 10th Anniversary Pokémon boxed set with thirty episodes from the series was released featuring ten distinct Pokémon, each Pokémon had three episodes focusing on it; "http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000NNK4SC" this boxset was an amalgamation of ten previously released Pokémon DVDs. Many episodes have also been released on single discs with around 5 episodes per disc. Network - the company responsible for releasing The Rise of Darkrai in the UK in September 2008 - says that they will also "release all TV seasons of the Japanese animation starting with the first season, Pokémon, Volume One and the most recent 10th season Pokémon Diamond and Pearl" for Region 2, meanwhile in Region 4, the seasons have been released since 2006 in complete season boxsets, and some in volumes. Important Note: Season 3: The Johto Journeys is currently out of print in Region 1, what makes it difficult to buy. The rest of the seasons are on print. Note: Pokemon Battle Frontier Volume 1 was released exclusively beginning on June 24 to WalMart Stores. Note: Boxsets in Region 4 include all the episodes of the spin-off Pokémon Chronicles. BluRay Releases On February 1, 2009, Carolco Pictures revealed that they will join forces with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Lions Gate Home Entertainment to give the first ten Pokémon movies their BluRay debuts. Carolco will distribute movies 1-3, Disney will distribute movies 4-7, and Lionsgate will distribute movies 8-10 (the latter two under license from Carolco), all in August of 2009. See also *List of Pokémon characters *List of Pokémon episodes **List of Pokémon special episodes *List of Pokémon theme songs *Pokémon Chronicles *List of Pokémon Anime Films *Banned episodes of Pokémon *List of television shows based on video games References External links Japan *Pokémon Japanese website *TV Tokyo Pokémon anime webpage *TV Tokyo Diamond and Pearl website *TV Tokyo Pokémon AG anime webpage United States *Official Pokémon USA website *[http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/pokemon/index.html Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl on Cartoon Network] *Archive of the 4Kids corporate page about Pokémon anime *Bulbapedia: the Pokémon Wiki Category:Anime of 1997 Category:Animated series based on video games Category:Pokémon anime Category:Anime series Category:Shōnen Category:Creature anime and manga Category:1997 television series debuts Category:Kids WB shows Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Category:Cartoon Network shows Category:Viz Media anime